Prince Harry will celebrate his 40th birthday on September 15 and is set to receive a rather generous gift to mark the occasion.
Reports claim that when he turns 40, the Duke of Sussex becomes eligible to receive millions of pounds from a family trust fund set up by the late Queen Mother when he was ten years old.
According to The Times, Prince Harry’s late great-grandmother is understood to have set up a trust with an estimated £19 million in 1994 as a way of providing a tax-free lump sum to her great-grandchildren.
The Queen Mother was 94 at the time the fund was set up. The money was to be distributed between her younger relatives with a first payment on their 21st birthdays and a second payment when they reached the age of 40.
It is thought that Elizabeth, the late Queen Mother, left more to Harry than William with the presumption that William would be in receipt of the fortune from the Duchy of Cornwall when he became heir apparent.
A former Palace aide said: “There was a trust fund set up at the time. It was a way in which the Queen Mother could set aside money for when her great-grandchildren were older and a way of passing a slice of her estate down in a tax-efficient way. It was a way in which some of her estate could be ring-fenced for them.”
The news comes amid reports that Prince Harry will not be returning to the UK to undertake royal duties despite sources claiming that he was plotting a return.
Prince Harry flew from his home in the US to join his brother at St Mary’s Church in Snettisham for their uncle Sir Robert Fellowes’s memorial last month – both brothers are said to have ignored each other.
A source close to both Prince William and Prince Harry told Express.co.uk recently that despite both brothers having a rather fraught relationship in recent years, they have expressed a wish to repair their fractured bond.
“Harry is open to reconciling with his brother,” said the source. “He knows it won’t be an easy task but it is something that can be brought to the table.”
Meanwhile. the same source said: “William is not opposed to a reconciliation with his brother at some point, but things would need to start from scratch, a fresh start type scenario, where things from the past are not to be mentioned.
